CHAPTER THIRTEEN: ROUND ONE, CONFLICT

Location: Cliffside by Mt. Ember, Knot Island, Sevii Islands

Wes climbed his way up the mountain with a singular purpose in mind. To satisfy his curiousity, he had to know what was in the Prophecy. And the only way to find out was to find the stone tablets describing it around the Sevii Islands. The only clue he had gotten was that the tablets were connected to ancient shrines built in honor of various legendary Pokémon, and there was a shrine for Moltres near the peak of Mt. Ember. Of course, scaling this dormant volcano proved to be far more difficult than Wes had imagined, so he stopped to rest on a cliff together with Shrew, who had been walking and climbing behind him the whole time.

"It looks a lot easier in the movies," Wes remarked to Shrew as he poured some water from his bottle to Shrew's open mouth. "But we'll get up there, buddy."

Wes still wasn't sure why Kris had insisted Wes to take Shrew with him, but the two were warming up to each other. On the trek there, Shrew hadn't done anything to scratch, bite or otherwise brutalize Wes as he would have done before. And Shrew was a surprisingly adept mountain climber, his claws just sinking into the rock surface while he used his tail to lift his body during his ascent. This meant Wes had one less thing to carry around, though Shrew was far too small to actually help Wes climb.

Still, not all was perfect. Wes momentarily put down his water bottle to look at the map of Mt. Ember, showing the best route to the shrine. As Wes reached out to take another ship, he found his bottle had been snatched and completely drained by the thirsty Sandshrew.

"I thought Sandshrew lived in the desert and mountains and stuff," Wes sighed, "and that you could go on for days without water. Or do you just like the taste of plastic residue so much?"

Still, there was apparently a spring not too far off from Wes' location, so Wes stood up, motioned Shrew to follow him and followed the map around the cliffs to where sweet, fresh water would undoubtedly wait.

Instead, what Wes saw was something completely different, prompting him to quickly duck behind some rocks. A gang of oddly dressed freaks were filling up their bottles near the spring while two of them carried a stone tablet with undecipherable writing on it - the prophecy, or at least a part of it. Apparently someone was after the same thing as Wes, but this someone had completely raided the shrine and removed the entire tablet physically.

But what was most striking were the clothes worn by the gang. Two of them, a tall, dark-haired woman and a muscular, shirtless man, wore the telltale blue uniforms of Team Aqua, while the other two, a serious-looking purple-haired woman and a tall, rotund and loud man had red outfits with thick hoods - the outfits worn by Team Magma. Oddly enough, the one in charge was the least intimidating-looking of them all: a short man with thick, round glasses in a tattered labcoat who was giving orders to the others, yelling at the round man and the purple-haired woman to treat the stone tablet gently, while the round man insisted it was someone else's turn to carry already. Wes could recognize the scientist: it was Dr. Gideon, from Navel Rock, who went on to work for Team Rocket. Kris had apparently faced him a number of times back in Johto, but he should have been in prison for assisting the Masked Man.

Wes quickly took out his PDA and used the camera to scan the other four. The former Team Aqua members were Shelly and Matt, the former whom Kris had told him about and the latter having been defeated by Lyra at the Hoenn Weather Institute. The Magma members were called Courtney and Tabitha, the latter having worked for both teams secretly. All four of them were wanted in Hoenn for their connections to the crime syndicates, but on the quiet Sevii Islands, no one probably thought twice about seeing them. Indeed, the real cause of the chaos in Hoenn ended up being someone else entirely. Wes took out his microphone-equipped-binoculars, the same ones Kris had used in Orre, to spy on the group.

"...lift with your legs, not with your back, you idiot!" Dr. Gideon yelled at Tabitha. "And have you two packed enough water for us yet? We've got a long way to go to get to the boss!"

Boss... Wes thought as he wrote down hastily scribbled notes on his PDA. Are they all working for Pryce now?

"Ohhhh, legs!" Tabitha said and casually lifted the entire tablet, leaving Courtney with nothing to carry, though her expression remained the same.

"...relieved," Courtney just muttered.

"Oi, Doc Giddy!" Shelly yelled at Gideon - Wes cringed at the accent. "The lot of us owe you an' the boss bloke a bloody fortune for what ye did for us, but I still want some soddin' answers! What's this all stone tablet about?"

"You shouldn't worry about anything besides working enough to earn your wages," Gideon remarked coolly as he took a sip from his own water bottle.

"But bro," said Matt as he hoisted two large canisters on water on his massive shoulders. "You gotta tell us more, bro! Like, you know everything me and my bros did, but what about you, bro?"

"Fine..." Gideon sighed. "...bro. As you know, I worked with Team Rocket before. Before that, I was working for Silph Co, but that bastard of a president didn't approve of any of my ideas, even though I slaved for the Master Ball project. So I tipped off a man known as Giovanni about it, and let's just say things snowballed from there. After we were taken out by a kid in Saffron City, I stayed with the Rockets and took charge of an operation here at the islands, but that ended up a failure, too. I blame the amateurs Archer and Ariana I worked with at the time. Still, I stayed loyal to the cause and kept up my public appearance as a respected man in the science community, getting me a job very close by... at Navel Rock."

"Navel Rock?" Tabitha repeated and scratched his head. "But isn't that place, just a... rock?"

"Hmph, I bet you also believe that the government doesn't put chemicals in the water that make the Poliwag happier," Gideon said. "Truth to be told, there was a government-funded secret research facility carved inside Navel Rock... but a certain incident regarding teleportation that I may or may not have been involved in caused the facility to sort of... collapse."

"Damn, and the government's been hiding it all!" Matt exclaimed dramatically. "Bro Archie was so right, bro!"

It was at that point that Wes heard hissing coming from near his feet. Thinking an Ekans had snuck up behind him, Wes looked back, but the source of the sound was instead Shrew. Seeing Dr. Gideon and hearing his voice through Wes' headphones had triggered a reaction in him that caused the Sandshrew to throw caution in the wind and sprint towards the scientist, keen on sinking its claws into Gideon's skulls.

"A beast is coming this way!" Gideon shrieked. "Tabitha, crush it!"

"Ok, doc!"

"Not with the tablet, moron!"

"SHREW!" Wes cried out, inadvertly revealing himself as well.

"...intruder," Courtney remarked.

"Who's there?" Shelly yelled and suddenly drew out a machete, pointing it in Wes' direction. "C'me out here or I'll cut ye to ribbons, swear on me mum!"

As Matt grabbed Shrew by the tail before it could lunge at Dr. Gideon, Wes had no choice but to step out with his hands raised. Seeing Wes made Dr. Gideon adjust his glasses and lean forward, as if to confirm what he was seeing.

"Well, this is unexpected," he remarked. "Greetings, cowboy."

~o~O~o~

Cape Brink Stadium, Boon Island, Sevii Islands

Kris was washing her face in the dressing room toilet for the fifth time within the past half an hour. Her first battle in the Sevii Cup was about to begin shortly. Yesterday, she had been matched to fight in the Water Arena against a trainer called Pebbleman. She had no idea what the "Water Arena" meant, but had chosen to fight with Croc just in case. As Kris finished washing and lifted her head to look herself in the mirror, a woman in a black dress wearing a white mask was suddenly standing behind her, making Kris' blood freeze.

"Whoops, sorry, didn't mean to scare you," a gentle voice said as the woman removed the mask, revealing it to be Leaf. "I got addicted to battling like this at the Silver Conference, plus I'd prefer not to have my real name broadcast everywhere. Anyway, I got past my first round! That Rock Arean was no joke, though."

Kris just kept staring at the mirror, standing still.

"Uh, you okay?" Leaf asked softly.

"Oh, don't mind me," Kris said tensely, still standing perfectly still and staring at herself in the mirror. "I just went into cardiac arrest but that's fine."

Leaf sighed. "I know what it's like to be afraid, but you can't allow Pryce to get to you! I spent a year as his prisoner but I don't think about him anymore. As far as I am concerned, if I don't let him to get to me, then we will have never won, no matter what he does."

Kris closed her eyes and slowly turned away from the mirror.

"You're right," she said. "But... he's still out there somewhere..."

"You beat him last time," Leaf said. "And the time before that. You'll do it again. But he's not gonna do anything here. This is a public event with a ton of security, organized by the strongest member of Hoenn's Elite Four. There is nothing to fear!"

Kris smiled and opened her eyes. "Thanks, Leaf," she said more confidently. "Any tips for my first battle, then?"

"Welll, there is a pretty big crowd... but it's okay!" Leaf said when Kris closed her eyes again and gasped quietly. "It's much smaller than the Silver Conference for example, or even the Whirl Cup. This is a small stadium, after all."

"Drake said all of the four battlefields have some kind of special rules," Kris recounted. "Water, Rock, Grass and Snow."

"Well, the Rock Arena was full of large rocks and crevices, as well as an occasional rock slide," Leaf said. "That's why I used Pidgeot so it could see behind obstacles and not fall into a crevice. The other guy used a Sudowoodo and probably thought he had the type advantage, but I got so many Sand Attacks in that it could barely see a thing. It was a shockingly easy win."

"I could never think of anything like that," Kris lamented.

Leaf tried to think of something encouraging to say, but was suddenly interrupted when Drake himself arrived to the room.

"Excellent battle, young miss," he told Leaf. "I had errands that needed done here, but I was watching it from my monitors. I'll make sure to be live to watch miss Kris' battle here, however."

Oh great, and HE will be judging me, too, Kris thought, feeling crushed by the weight of it all.

"However, the battle starts soon, and I'm going to have to ask you to leave," Drake said patiently. "I will make sure your friend is ready, though."

"Got it," Leaf said and smiled at Kris. "Good luck."

"Y-you too," Kris responded nervously.

"I... already had my battle today."

"Oh- well - yeah!"

As Leaf left, Kris went on to take deep breaths as Drake watched sympathetically.

"Kris, I need to tell you something. You weren't going to find out until the next round, but it looks like you need all the encouragement you can get," Drake said after a short silence. "This first round is to simply pick the best of the litter. For the remaining rounds, we expect things to get a lot tougher, and we don't want anyone to get there as just a fluke. That's why, the winners of this round will receive their own personal trainer to make both them and their Pokémon as good as can be. For the entirety tomorrow and the morning of the day after, it's going to be hard training before round two."

"Really?" Kris said. "My own personal trainer?"

"Exactly, and I have a special one in mind for you when you win this one," Drake said kindly. "Now, the organizer of the cup shouldn't pick favorites, but I've got a good feeling about you. Hilda told me a lot, and I heard you trained under Unova Champion Alder for a bit."

"Well... for a bit," Kris mumbled and stared at her shoes. "But, uh, thank you."

"Don't thank me yet," Drake said. "Thank me after you win. And I mean that literally, we don't have time for any more chitchat, the battle is about to begin."

"...what?"

Drake escorted Kris through the corridors and onto the stadium. It was a familiar feeling, the layout of the newly built stadium resembling that of the ones Kris had battled in before. Whirl Cup, Silver Conference, Hoenn League, Sinnoh League... Kris knew they'd all lead up to that moment. Hilda had confirmed that Lyra was in the tournament too, probably past her first round of battles already. Lyra was good, but Kris had improved so much since the last battle. They would face each other in the tournament eventually, Kris could feel it.

As Kris and Drake entered the actual arena, Kris finally understood the meaning. There was little ground to stand on, just a very narrow stairway leading up to a pillar, one pillar on each side of the arena. The pillars were suspended above a large pool of water, with rocks placed in the pool, most likely to allow more tactical maneuvers. And Pete Pebbleman, the challenger, was already standing on the opposite pillar in swimming trunks, flexing his muscles to the cheering crowd.

"Why is he almost naked?" was the first thing Kris could ask after overcoming the fear caused by the cheering crowd around her.

"Listen up, Kris," Drake told her, now with a more professional tone. "I told this to Mr. Pebbleman already a few minutes ago. The goal of this Cup is to encourage trainers to work alongside their Pokémon. This means sticking by their side no matter the situation, not just watching from afar."

"You want me to get in there?!" Kris wondered as she looked at the pool. "Get soaking wet and drown while two beasts fiercely battle each other to submission next to me?"

"Well, we did ask if you can swim in the application form," Drake reminded.

"I didn't read it that thoroughly... but yeah, I can swim all right. I just wanted a bit of a heads up! How did he prepare a swimsuit in advance?"

"He didn't," Drake sighed. "When I explained the same to him, he ripped off his clothes, revealed the trunks he was wearing and shouted how he was prepared for everything. Personally, I think one of my staff leaked the info to him."

"I'm gonna lose so bad," Kris groaned.

"Believe in yourself, Kris!" Drake said. "The best trainer will win. Good luck!"

As Drake left, the announcers began their drivel. Kris recognized DJ Mary and DJ Ben, familiar voices in almost every tournament she had been in.

"All right, everybody, the fourth match of the first round of the Sevii Cup is about to begin. I'm the smooth-voiced DJ Ben, here to bring my soft, velvety tone to your ears to melt the tension this battle may cause like rich, creamy butter on a hot Summer day-"

"You're going off-script, Ben. I'm DJ Mary, the more popular of us two, and we've got an exciting lineup today, folks. Pete Pebbleman of Vermilion City, veteran of twelve tournaments, is here with us tonight, handpicked to take part in the first ever Sevii Cup. Up against him is Kris of New Bark Town, a crowd favorite who we've been following since the Whirl Cup months ago. We'll see how much she has improved as she and Pebbleman fight on the Water Arena! Trainers, start your battle!"

A gong echoed loudly across the arena, and Pebbleman immediately jumped off the pillar and into the pool. While mid-air, he threw a Poké Ball into the air, and emerged from the water together with his Pokémon: a Pokémon with a small black, sphere-like body, encased in two casings of thick, light-gray shells, the outer shell equipped with large protruding spikes. Kris sent out her Pokémon: her Feraligatr, Croc. She let the Poké Ball fall into the water and Croc emerged, roaring and ready to fight. However, Croc's main asset was his physical strength, which was useless against Cloyster's ultra-tough exterior, even Kris knew that.

"Tell you what, toots!" Pebbleman yelled from the pool. "If you're too scared to come down here, you can forfeit now if you want. The sooner we get through this, the better! Cloyster and I have grinding to do later, and I'm not talking about the weird kind!"

Pebbleman's attempts were transparent, but they did spark something in Kris. Not a dejected feeling, but something else. Blood rushed in her ears as Kris once again drowned out the announcers, the noises from the crowd and the splashing of water as Pebbleman backstroked around his Cloyster, showboating for the audience. It was time to make the first move, not just to win, but to wipe the smug smirk off her opponent's face. It was just like hustling the people back on the ship.

"Croc, Hydro Pump!"

The Feraligatr blasted water at Pebbleman's Cloyster at immense pressure. Pebbleman quickly swam out of the way and ordered Cloyster to use Withdraw, but while the water may not have penetrated the shell, Cloyster was pushed backwards, hitting a rock. Pebbleman's initial shock soon turned to a sneer.

"I saw through your strat," he said. "But even a +5 environmental damage boost could penetrate Cloyster's shell, not after the Iron supplements and rigorous Defense stat EV training we've done!"

"What are those words you just strung together?!" Kris yelled back. "I thought we're having a battle, not comparing spreadsheets!"

"Only an amateur would say that!" Pebbleman said, now less snide and more angry. "Cloyster, Ice Beam!"

Cloyster's shell opened as the Pokémon fired a blue energy beam right at Croc, but Kris had a comeback ready. Kris ordered Croc to use Waterfall, and the Feraligatr summoned a large waterfall that propelled it upward, causing the beam to hit the waterfall, freezing it solid.

"Now, Slash!" Kris yelled quickly.

Croc seemed to understand, and as it descended back down, it swiped the frozen waterfall with its sharp claws, sending shards of ice flying everywhere, mostly in Cloyster's direction, a few of them making their way into Cloyster's concealed body. Pebbleman ordered Cloyster back in its shell, and Kris saw her chance. Cloyster would have to come out of its shell to attack, meaning Croc would have to strike at the exact moment.

As if reading her mind, Pebbleman yelled: "Stay inside, Cloyster! Spike Cannon, 2 o'clock!"

Cloyster turned ever so slightly and blasted one of its spikes off, sending it flying towards Croc. The Feraligatr dodged, but Pebbleman was quick on the draw.

"Adjust twenty-three degrees clockwise!" he yelled, and Cloyster agreed, firing another Spike Cannon at Croc, this one actually landing at Croc and hitting it in the chest.

Croc roared in pain, but struggled through it as it ripped the spike off and tossed it aside. Back at the sidelines, from the entrance to the dressing room, Drake was observing the battle. A young, blonde-haired woman appeared from the dressing room, holding towels under her arms.

"What do you think?" Drake asked the woman, keeping his eye on the battle. "A bit rough around the edges, but I like her style. With your training, do you think she could pull it off?"

"Absolutely," the woman replied. "But it all depends if she's willing to go far enough to win this one."

Meanwhile, Croc used Surf on Cloyster, and while the attack did little damage, it once again caused the Pokémon to hit something, this time the pillar Kris was standing on, causing her to almost lose her balance. Pebbleman just laughed, but Kris' smile didn't falter.

"How do you think Cloyster is feeling right now?!" Kris shouted at Pebbleman down in the pool.

"What kind of question is that?!" Pebbleman yelled. "This Cloyster's shell is harder than diamond, harder than a Ponyta's hoof! He feels nothing!"

"You sure about that? Sure, the outer shell is hard... but who's to say Cloyster isn't a scrambled mess inside?"

This gave Pebbleman pause, but he quickly recovered and ordered another Spike Cannon. Except, despite Pebbleman's clear instructions about directions and degrees, the Spike Cannon missed, much to Pebbleman's frustration. Pebbleman ordered Cloyster to open up, revealing a nauseated-looking and sweating face inside.

"Look where you're aiming, Cloyster!" Pebbleman yelled. "Spike Cannon!"

"Aqua Tail!" Kris said.

Cloyster fired a volley of spikes at Croc's direction, but the Feraligatr surrounded its tail with a veil of water and swung it around, smacking the spikes out of the air. Next, Kris ordered Croc to advance on the exposed Cloyster and use Dynamic Punch. However, Croc didn't react quickly enough, allowing Cloyster to counter with Icicle Crash, summoning a sharp icicle that hit Croc in the face and caused it to miss its attack.

Why are you slowing down, Croc... can't you hear my orders?

And then Kris finally realized it. It wasn't just Croc who needed to work harder. Annoying as he saw, Pebbleman had the right idea. So, Kris had no recourse but to take off her jacket and shoes and jump into the pool, woefully unprepared. Sure, she could swim. But to keep track of the battle and give orders to Croc while doing so? And trying not to get in the middle of the destructive attacks? The whole thing seemed insane.

The water was warm enough, but the weight of her wet clothes started to drag her down, so Kris grabbed hold of another rock. Seeing its trainer in distress, Croc swam to Kris and hoisted her up a bit, allowing her to grab the rock more firmly.

"Thanks, Croc!" Kris said and patted ther Feraligatr on the head, avoiding the spikes narrowly. "Now pay close attention to what I want you to do..."

As Kris whispered her strategy to Croc, the Pokémon nodded. Pebbleman seemed to have decided that Kris was ready to battle again, as he ordered Cloyster to use Spike Cannon, but Kris ordered a Surf, the massive wave washing away the spikes from mid-air and crashing on Cloyster, drenching the Pokémon from the inside. Both Pebbleman and Cloyster were blinded for a few seconds, allowing Croc to rapidly swim towards its target and advance on Cloyster. Pebbleman reacted just time as Croc was about to Slash Cloyster's body.

"Withdraw!" he yelled.

"Superpower!" Kris countered.

Cloyster sealed itself again, but Croc was ready. Concentrating all of its energy into its fist that soon began glowing blue, Croc punched Cloyster's shell with all of its might. For about two agonizing seconds, it seemed like the attack had done nothing. But then, like Croc had blown a door off its hinges, Cloyster's shell opened slowly, revealing the disoriented body inside. It could no longer completely Withdraw, weakened too much by Croc's relentless attacks.

Kris knew this was it, and there was not a moment to doubt. She let go of the rock and started swimming closer to the battle, wanting to make sure Croc was going to put its all into this coming attack.

"Damn it!" Pebbleman shouted. "Clamp!"

With Croc at close distance, Cloyster tried to snap the Feraligatr's head in its shell. But Croc was quick to react, extending its arms and grabbing both halves of the Cloyster's shell before the clamp came down, its teeth grinding as it held Cloyster's attack at bay, rendering the Bivalve Pokémon unable to move.

"Hydro Cannon!" Kris yelled as she stroked closer her way closer to Croc, water making its way in her mouth at every word.

If this move failed, Croc would be left exposed. But this was the only chance they would get. Croc's mouth turned into a confident smirk as it opened its massive jaws and began charging a large ball of water in its mouth. Cloyster could only look on in horror and Pebbleman could only scream at Cloyster to clamp harder as the ball of water hit Cloyster right in the face and exploded upon impact, knocking it out instantly.

Pebbleman screamed and the crowd erupted into massive cheers. Kris swam over to Croc and hugged the Pokémon as tight as she could, while Croc itself could only pant and stare blankly forward in exhaustion.

Ladders appeared out of the walls on both sides of the pool and both Kris and Pebbleman withdrew their Pokémon and climbed out. At the top of the ladder, Kris was helped up by two pairs of hands. One of them Drake's, and another a short, cheerful blonde-haired woman about Kris' size, but a few years older and definitely more fit, looking like a gymnast or something. Kris was keenly aware on how hundreds of spectators and a member of the Hoenn Elite Four could see her completely drenched and exhausted, dripping water everywhere.

"Well done, Kris, that was a fantastic display!" Drake said as he patted Kris on the back needlessly roughly, making Kris cough out some water. "Not only did you win but you did it with style!"

"Uh... thanks," Kris said, not quite adjusted to what happened yet. "Does this mean that-"

"Yes, you'll be proceeding to the next round, along with three other lucky contestants!" Drake said with a big smile. "And, as promised, I have assigned you a personal coach to get you through this. Here she is, Kris, say hello to Donna!"

"Donna Harvey," the woman introduced herself and handed Kris a towel. "But please, my friends call me Domino."

~o~O~o~

Wes and Shrew were both tied up by Gideon and his flunkies as they rummaged their way through Wes' belongings, looking for valuables or Pokémon, but only finding junk. Wes only had his hands tied together and placed behind his back while Shrew was tied entirely from neck to legs with tight rope, the small Pokémon struggling to break free and sink his claws on Gideon, who watched over the two with amusement.

"How poetic it is that both of us would be drawn back here," Gideon told Wes. "To the same islands where our fates took an unexpected turn. Only a handful of us survived the cataclysm at Navel Rock, and I like to believe us as the rare and chosen."

"Doesn't feel that rare lately to be honest," Wes remarked. "And you only survived because Team Rocket needed your pasty ass for the research they were doing."

"Guilty as charged, my genius makes me irreplaceable," Gideon remarked with amusement. "Found anything yet?" he asked Tabitha, who was going through Wes' bag.

"Yeah, a bunch of ugly-ass socks," Tabitha said. "This guy's got no drip."

"I mean, any Pokémon?"

"Nah, weirdest thing, bro," said Matt, who was pacing around Wes. "No Poké Balls on his belt or bag."

"...hiding something," said Courtney, who approached Wes and licked her lips. "Strip search time~"

"Be weird on your own time!" Gideon snapped.

"Doc, hate to be a bother, but this bloke's up to some shite," Shelly said and frowned at Wes. "I've seen 'him around with that bird from Johto, the one who caused boss man Archie to kick the bucket, she did!"

"Aha!" Gideon exclaimed, still smiling. "The same one who messed up with our plans in Johto. So she must not be far... that might be a problem."

"Hey!" Wes protested. "Who says I can't be a problem too! I'll be a pain in your boss' ass, whoever he is...?"

Gideon ignored him. "We must move to the other locations as soon as possible. Better if we split up. Matt and Shelly, take point B, Tabitha and Courtney to point C, I'll be back at the base keeping your dinners warm and the boss updated. The Orrean can carry the stuff to the boat. Sound good?"

"Hey!" Wes yelled. "What makes you think I'll be your slave?"

"Sorry, bro, but Doc Gideon isn't making you sign a consent form here," Matt said.

"If you want to be left here, we'll gladly have one of your Pokémon take your place," Gideon said. "Just tell us where they are!"

Wes smiled. "Well, a Poké Ball can shrink to the size of a marble... and I have a ton of pockets, pouches and other hiding places on me, stuff you've never even thought of. For example, there could be a Poké Ball hidden... right in my boot!"

Wes kicked his right foot to remove his boot... which just dropped on the ground unceremoniously, exposing the world to Wes' sock and a big hole in it that allowed his big toe to peek out.

"See?" Tabitha said.

"Sorry, wrong foot," Wes said. "Left boot!"

Wes kicked off his left boot, opening up the Poké Ball stashed inside. His Zebstrika materialized and immediately used Discharge, forcing everyone around Wes to flee. Wes himself quickly wriggled out of his shoddily made bonds, grabbed Shrew with him and jumped on Zebstrika's back.

Tabitha sent his Mightyena and Shelly her Sealeo after Wes, who was riding towards the edge of the cliff. Though Zebstrika wanted to slow down, Wes urged it to keep moving as Mightyena gave chase to them while Sealeo fired Ice Ball attacks from the distance. Right at the edge of the cliff, an Ice Ball hit the ground near Zebstrika's feet, sending it, Wes and Shrew plummeting off the edge of the cliff. Wes was able to withdraw Zebstrika to its Poké Ball and hold on to Shrew as the two fell.

Gideon and his cronies ran to the edge of the cliff, seeing only the raging sea and jagged rocks below. Deducing that Wes was a goner, the group left to continue their proceedings, dragging the prophecy tablet into their boat. But Wes was perfectly fine, squatting with Shrew on a cliff right below Gideon and the others, smiling at his successful ruse.